Elder mother encourages ‘godly way’ of rearing children

SEASONED IN the business of rearing children, Carlene Bartley is encouraging younger mothers to nurture their offspring in stable homes and environments while recommitting to the traditions of bringing up the next generation in a ‘godly way’.

The 63-year-old, who is the mother of two adult children, said she believed Mother’s Day, which will be celebrated this upcoming Sunday, is an appreciation of the blessing it is to care for children, and is therefore not restricted to those women who are able to bear them.

While noting that she was not trying to diminish the importance of fathers, as they, too, play a critical role in children’s development, she continued that to be a mother meant that you were tasked to mould and transform lives “the right and proper way so we can have a better society and a better world”.

“The society that we are living in now is really terrible,” she lamented, while raising concern for the nation’s youth, who she said lacked a sense of direction in life.

“A child is born with a clean slate. It is us, the parent (who) has to write on that slate, (to) try to instil good morals,” she said.

“I don’t believe that if parents really put their all in growing up a child that the child can really do otherwise,” she added.

She implored parents to “put your all in it” and to ensure that children are steered in the right direction for the preservation of mankind and for the betterment of society.

Bartley said that because some mothers grew up in “a crude way” they felt as though this needed to be passed down to their children.

“Fight for better for them,” she encouraged, noting that despite not receiving proper schooling when she was younger or getting the opportunity to grow up in a household with both parents, she did not want the same for her children and decided that “not my children. (They) were going to grow with father and mother in a proper marriage situation, and that’s what happened,” she said.

Bartley got married when she was 25 years old and began planning for children even before she had them.

PLANNING FOR CHILDREN

“We decided that we wanted them to get a proper education, and we started (schooling) from home,” she said of plans made by her and her now 64-year-old husband, Stanford.

Being a mother, she said, was “an experience”, sometimes bitter and sometimes sweet, but the good times and rewards surpassed the difficulties encountered over the years.

She smiled brightly as she spoke with The Gleaner in April during an interview on the sidelines of the four-day trade show, Expo Jamaica 2023, which was organised by the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA). Bartley talked about the joys of being given the chance to do it all over again after becoming a grandmother through her son, Carlon, having two daughters.

“To me, I love my children, my girl and my boy, but I am in love with my grandchildren,” she said.

Over the years, she stated, she ensured that she instilled in her children “the way of the Lord” as this later guided them on how to behave and to distinguish between right and wrong.

She added that they would attend church and Sunday school and were taught the “way to salvation”, which allowed for them to be where they are in life today.

“I am proud of them because there are mothers today who are literally bawling for their sons and their daughters,” she said of the high rate of crime and violence plaguing communities and robbing youngsters of their lives.

“I am giving God thanks,” she added, for the fact that her children are alive and well.

She bemoaned that a lot of young people were now “shacking up”, which also resulted in tense situations once a child came into the equation.

Being a Christian, for over four decades, Bartley is encouraging the future generation of mothers to “put God first” in their lives and to seek guidance from him as the journey of motherhood could not be taken alone. However, she said that through consultation with God, He would “make a way” in times of difficulty.

Bartley family fully invested in All in Wood business

Her daughter, Lacey-Ann Bartley, is chief executive officer of the family business, Bartley’s All in Wood. It is a woodwork and furniture business located in Mandeville, Manchester, on the campus of the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf, where some members of the deaf community can be found within the company’s workshop, assisting in making the items.

The nine-year-old company manufactures and sells high-quality wooden furniture, jewellery, corporate gift items, office items, wedding tokens, customised pieces, and home goods that are made by local craftsmen with the finest Jamaican wood types such as cedar, guango, mahogany, blue mahoe, poplar, and pine, among others.

Lacey-Ann, who is of the second generation, now runs the operations of the business, which was founded by her father.

Being the first of two children, Lacey-Ann stated that she grew up watching her father work and would assist him in the woodwork shop as a child, quickly learning the trade at an early stage. All four members of the family take part in production.

“My mom has been there from day one, She has been supportive, very loving, very caring, and very nurturing,” she said.

While she is the CEO, Lacey-Ann is also the daughter. This, however, has not interfered with separating personal and work life between her and her mother who is the quality assurance manager.

“No family business is perfect, but we try as best to stick to those rules, and when we deviate, we talk about it and move forward,” she added.

Lacey-Ann recounted a time when she had to travel abroad to purchase some products for a major project the business had undertaken. Her mother, Carlene, was left in charge of managing the company’s operations as a result.

MEMORABLE MOMENT

As her time overseas got prolonged, “without me having to intervene or having to ask her anything, mommy and the team were at the factory and they came and got the order out on time and the client was satisfied, so by the time I reached back to the island, everything was fine,” she said, highlighting a ‘memorable moment’ involving her mother.

She stated how impressed she was.

“As a small business, that’s a big deal for your business being able to run without you,” she said.

For Mother’s Day gifts, Bartley’s All in Wood have in store customised plaques with writings inscribed such as ‘Queen of the Pack’, along with cooking utensils with ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ engraved and picture frames with ‘God Bless Mother’ etched into it.

There is the option for individuals to personalise items purchased.

Bartley’s All in Wood can be contacted via telephone at 876-348-0934, on Instagram @bartley_s, through the https://bartleysallinwood.com.jm/ or via email at info@bartleysallinwood.com.jm